


Spaceman

by fardareismai



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Donna Noble - Freeform, Gen, Nine x Rose - Freeform, Ninth Doctor - Freeform, Post Episode: s01e08 Father's Day, Rose Tyler - Freeform, canon 'verse, donna x shaun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2015-06-14
Packaged: 2018-04-04 07:50:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4130197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fardareismai/pseuds/fardareismai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Ninth Doctor promised Rose Tyler a beach, so a beach he's brought her to.  He just might possibly have brought her to a new-old friend as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spaceman

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WhoLockGal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoLockGal/gifts).



> **My dearest WhoLockGal's birthday is today (and my life has been threatened if I announce which one it is, so no dice kids!).  In honour of that auspicious occasion, I was asked to write a story involving Donna Noble and the Ninth Doctor, two of my favourite characters in all of Doctor Who.**
> 
>  
> 
> **Happy Birthday my darling!**

"A beach is a beach, Rose Tyler."

Rose rolled her eyes at the Doctor, but she grinned nonetheless. She'd asked for a beach and, for once, he had complied. She thought it might have something to do with the prickly, electric atmosphere that had existed between the pair of them since that horrible day in 1987. They hadn't really been comfortable with each other since, so when she'd made a timid request that would get them out of the time ship and put some distance between the pair of them- a request with which the Doctor could guiltlessly comply- he had jumped at the chance.

The Doctor didn't tell Rose that he'd been aiming for a tropical beach on a planet far from home where she'd be dazzled by the wonders of the universe that he could show her. He thought, perhaps, they'd had quite enough of Earth for the time being. The TARDIS, however, seemed to have her own ideas and had landed them on a windy British beach, only about ten years after he'd picked Rose up in the first place.

The only benefit was that it was the off-season, and they had the place practically to themselves. There was a small family a little way down the beach, a woman with long red hair, a tall black man, and a little girl with a riot of gingery curls and an apparently limitless supply of energy running circles around the adults as they laid out a picnic.

Rose took a deep breath of the briny air and let out a gusty sigh. It wasn't quite what she'd had in mind, but somehow it was perfect. The wildness of the wind and waves, along with the familiarity of home was just precisely what she had needed to blow the cobwebs and concern away from her. She bent to take off her shoes and ran to the edge of the water- not into it, but just where the cold waves could lap her bare feet- feeling the Doctor's crystal-blue gaze on her the whole way. He didn't follow her, for which she was grateful.

The Doctor hadn't been immune to the peculiar currents running between himself and his young companion, but he had no idea what to do about them. They were touchy with each other, nervous, and skittish. They were both on short fuzes, liable to blow up at the slightest provocation, and paradoxically they treated each other like they were made of glass, only giving into that temper and frustration once each was alone.

The Doctor thought he might go mad. He missed the ease that had existed between them before Adam had set foot on his ship. He missed the way she had looked at him, smiled at him, depended on him and sought him for advice. He missed the little things that had become routine- how he would bring her a cup of tea to wake her, and sit with her to watch her become more coherent until lucidity arrived at the bottom of the mug, how she would settle beside him on the sofa in the library and shove a book into his hand, the assumption being that he would read it to her until she fell asleep, her head on his shoulder.

He missed the way it had been before "better with two" had become three. First it had been Adam, then her father, who might it be next?

He watched Rose walk up the beach, slow and meandering. She had nowhere to go, nowhere to be, and all the time in the world. She didn't have to run, there were no dangers other than her feet going numb and sand blowing into her eyes. He watched as she bent, just about even with the little family and their picnic, and picked up something out of the sand.

The little ginger girl ran up to her and peered at what she held. The Doctor watched as Rose turned her hand and showed the child (she couldn't be more than three) what she was holding. The two girls appeared to be having a very serious conversation about the item, then Rose placed it carefully in the little girl's hands. The child turned and ran on chubby legs toward her parents, holding the whatever-it-was over her head like a pennant. Rose followed at a slower pace, and the Doctor could see her grin from where he stood. It shone like a beacon in the universe for him.

The girls' mother bent her head over her daughter's treasure, and the Doctor could tell from her body language that she was exclaiming in surprise and delight over the amazing thing. It made him smile, and twisted his heart just a bit at the thought of his own children and his own beautiful, tragic granddaughter.

When she'd made it up the beach to them, Rose shook hands with the girl's parents. They spoke for a few minutes during which Rose gestured once at him, which had made the adults both turn to look at him. He waved and gave them what he hoped was a reassuring smile. They waved back, then returned their attention to Rose.

Finally, after several more moments of talk, Rose and the little girl began walking together up the beach, accompanied by the girl's father.

The mother, who remained behind on the blanket, waved to him again, obviously inviting him to join her. It wasn't his first inclination, but he knew he'd just look suspicious if he continued standing on the beach as he was, so the Doctor set off across the loose sand to where the woman was sitting, pouring tea from a thermal flask.

"Your girlfriend there said you'd want some tea," she called when he got close enough to hear her over the pounding surf.

"Girlfriend?" the Doctor said, blankly. "You mean Rose?"

The woman laughed and gestured him to sit on the blanket. The Doctor did, finally managing to twist his long, awkward legs so that he was sitting tailor-fashion facing the red-haired woman.

"Donna Temple-Noble," she said, holding out her hand, which the Doctor took gingerly. "And yeah, of course I mean Rose. You're not one of those idiot blokes who can't stand to label your relationship, are you?"

The Doctor blinked stupidly at her. "Relationship?" he nearly choked.

Donna handed him the mug of tea, and he took a fast drink of the scalding beverage, barely noticing the blistering heat going down his throat.

"Careful, Spaceman, that stuff's hot!" Donna cried, then frowned as though confused.

"Spaceman?" the Doctor asked.

Donna Temple-Noble's eyes were far away but snapped back to his after a moment.

"Do I know you?" she asked, frowning. "Donna Noble… have you ever known a Donna Noble? Maybe when you were a kid?"

"I… I don't think so," the Doctor said, frowning back at her, trying to remember back across the centuries. Had anyone ever called him Spaceman?

"I feel like I had a friend once, and I called him Spaceman, but I don't remember anything about him… like maybe it was so long ago… we were kids or something?"

The Doctor looked carefully at the woman, but there was no twinge of past recognition. There was the barest twinge from the TARDIS, but nothing he could call an answer, or even a hint.

The woman shook her head. "Never mind, it's nothing… nothing."

The Doctor couldn't help but notice that she was still distracted, and she stared out into the water, continuing to shake her head.

After a moment, though, she turned back to him. "Anyway… are you and Rose thinking of having kids? She was just great with my Eileen. She'd be a wonderful mother."

The Doctor nearly swallowed his tongue. "Rose and I aren't… we're not like that," he choked out.

The woman's green eyes sharpened on his face. "Look, mate, I get that a bloke your age might feel weird about dating a girl Rose's, and maybe you don't want people to judge you, but if I've learned anything in my life, it's that people are going to do whatever the hell they want to do, and you're just going to have to keep on doing what makes you happy."

"But-"

"I know women, okay? And that girl down there," she nodded toward the trio still walking down the beach away from them, "the way she talks about you? She's your girlfriend. And you? The way you watch her, even now, you're her boyfriend."

"You were only talking to her for three minutes!"

"Yeah, and it's that obvious, sunshine."

The Doctor blinked in surprise, completely thrown by this woman's observation. "You think she wants… me?"

Donna laughed, throwing back her sheet of ginger hair and cackling up into the sky. "Mister, I don't know how you've missed it, but yeah. She wants you."

"But… what if-"

She cut him off again. "Look, mate, there are thousands of 'what if's out there, aren't there? Millions of things that can go wrong, but wouldn't it be worse- billions of times worse- to never try? It's clear you're mad for that girl, and she's crazy for you right back, though I've no idea what she sees in you." She grinned at him to take the sting from her words. "Take the opportunity and be happy together. Nothing lasts forever, you know."

"Nothing but Time," the Doctor murmured, his eyes on the trio which had turned around and was now coming back up the beach.

Donna turned as well. Shaun had one of Eileen's hands, and Rose had the other. The sun was behind them, casting them all three in silhouette and she could see a pretty future that might exist for this odd man and the lovely girl with the honey-coloured eyes. She didn't know why, but it seemed important- vitally important, really- that this man and that girl have their time together. There was something about them that struck a chord in her.

The Doctor watched as the two adults picked up the girl between them, swinging her by her hands. He could hear her shrill giggle over the wind and the waves.

"I'm an old man," he said softly, not really intending Donna to hear.

"Nonsense," she said, shaking her head. "Nothing saying a man in his forties can't be just as brilliant a dad as a man in his twenties or thirties. You've a lot more to offer a kid at your age, haven't you? You're mellower, calmer, happier. And she's happy with you, which is, in the end, all that really matters."

Rose and Donna's husband, and little Eileen had made it back to them then. Eileen turned to Rose and held up her hands, into which Rose emptied the pocket of her hoodie- a small collection of sandy seashells which the child turned to present to her mother with an air of solemn pride.

"I found these, Mummy," she said, eyes wide and dark as her father's.

"Well aren't they beautiful?" Donna said, spring through them with a finger to see them all. "What would you like to do with them, Leenie?"

"Miss Wose said if I put them on a string, they would be a necklace."

The Doctor glanced up at Rose who was watching the little girl with gentle amusement. Her eyes found his and she grinned, a real, deep smile for the first time since 1987, and the Doctor's heart soared.

"I think we can do that," Donna said, looking at the pair with a small smile on her lips. They were looking at each other as though nothing else in the world existed. Something in her heart seemed to settle into place and a phrase echoed in her mind, unattached to memory.

Just as it should be.


End file.
